Day 1 Marine Ecosystems

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Intro to Marine Ecosystems

State Standards: GLEs/GSEs

LS 2: 3a
GSE's Explained on Unit Main Page

National Standards:


Context of Lesson:

This is the first lesson of the Marine Bio Unit. Students will have previously studied physical oceanography (ocean chemistry, currents, tides, seafloor geology...etc.). The study of several marine ecosystems will allow students the opportunity to connect the physical aspects of the ecosystem with the biological aspects yet to be studied. This lesson will be connected to all the other lessons, as we will begin to study specific organisms, and students will need to connect certain organismal characteristics back to the specific marine ecosystem the organism belongs too.

Opportunities to Learn:

Depth of Knowledge

  • Level 2: Design and construct poster with appropriate,key characteristics of specific ecosystem
  • Level 2: Teach peers about assigned ecosystem

Prerequisite Knowledge

  • Ecosystem basics will be refreshed during the opening of class brainstorming session.

Environmental factors

  • Class is 1hr and 18 mins long.
  • Prior to class whiteboards and markers will be placed on each lab bench with the name of the ecosystem already written on top.
  • Depending on the size of the class the students will be allowed to choose their own groups of 2-3, in order to allow the class to cover all of the specific ecosystems necessary, as well as, to make sure each student has an integral part in research/poster design.
  • Students will be allowed to work at the lab stations during the collaboration periods.
  • During the Eco-Speed Teaching activity the groups of students will teach the class about their ecosystem using the poster.
  • Students will be given 2 minutes for each group to explain their poster.

Materials


Objectives:

  1. Working in groups, students will design and construct a small poster detailing important aspects of their assigned Marine Ecosystem.
  2. Working in groups, students will use their poster to present the Flora, Fauna, Food Chains, Abiotic Factors and Location to the class about their assigned Marine Ecosystem. Good

Instruction:

Opening: (15-20mins)

  • Upon entering the classroom students will be asked to answer the following questions, in a bulleted list format in their science notebooks, that will be posted on the board...
    • What is an ecosystem?
    • What key characteristics help scientists to define ecosystems in general?
  • "We are going to create a class list of all the characteristics of an ecosystem. From this list we are going to determine the characteristics we feel are most important and useful when describing an ecosystem. We will then apply our list of important characteristics to specific Marine Ecosystems in order to describe the systems as Marine Biologists would."
  • Students will share out their list with the class during a whole class discussion a few minutes after the bell rings.
  • A class list will be formed on the board.
    • Possible student responses: animals, plants, relationships between organisms, food chains,water or land, location...etc.
  • List will be narrowed down out loud as a class on the board.
  • Students led to a list of 5 important characteristics *1. Flora (plants), 2. Fauna (animals), 3. Food Chains (relationships), 4. Abiotic Factors (non-living characteristics), 5. Location*
    • "What characteristics do we see a repeat of on the board? Were these characteristics important to many people?"
    • "What terms need to be specified further? For example: What do you mean by "environment"? location? topography? etc."
    • "Can we try to condense several characters into one general characteristics? For example: plants, grasses, trees into a Flora characteristic."
    • "Do we feel as though this list covers all the aspects of an ecosystem that would help to describe it in one category or another? If not what else should we add?"
    • Examples of condensation of terms:
      • Land, sand, gravel, soil...Abiotic Factors
      • Plants, grasses, trees, seaweed...Flora
      • Animals, bacteria, consumers, herbivores, carnivores...Fauna
      • Climate, mountains, water, height above sea level...Location
      • Relationships among organisms, predator, prey...Food Chains
      I like the way you're giving students ownership in the lesson but at the same time guiding their thinking with followup questions.
  • "Today we are going to take what you already know about ecosystems and apply it to specific marine ecosystems. Using the list of characteristics you came up with we're going to break off into groups, research and design mini-posters about an ecosystem." Good transition.
  • Project described, students break up into groups of 2-3, and are assigned a lab bench. You may need to spend more time making the day's tasks and requirements more explicit.

Engagement:(45-50 mins)

  • Students provided a graphic organizers with the 5 characteristics listed (in order to organize thoughts and information), laptops, and a list of possible online resources.
  • Students must have graphic organizer/whiteboard run by teacher before starting poster construction.
  • Groups begin designing posters. If you have an idea of what tasks you want Ss to complete, you might decide to make these explicit and break up the time of the period beforehand, e.g. If Ss are going to use computers to research their ecosystem, you might say that the research phase will last 15 minutes and then computers will be shut so that the group can design their poster for ~ 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, you will walk around to approve poster drafts.
  • What will you be doing during this period? Can you walk around and ask questions? If so, what questions will you ask to provide formative feedback as Ss prepare to teach?

Closure:(10-15 mins)

  • Students stopped early.
  • Explain process of Eco-speed teaching activity to take place at beginning of next class period.
    • Groups will present in front of class.
    • Each receive 2 mins to explain posters to the class.
    • Groups will rotate until all of the ecosystems have been explained.
    • Listening groups will have a graphic to fill out on each group's presentation, in order to take notes.
    • Class will come together at the end of speed teaching to fill in any missing info/ask questions.
  • Can finish posters for homework.

Your rubric mentions a website. Will this be part of the speed-teaching session?

Assessment:

  • Ecosystem Poster
    • Graded with rubric
  • Formative assessment: Questions and guidance during research/poster creation.

I think this lesson will go well. - fogleman fogleman


Reflections

(only done after lesson is enacted)

Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:

Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:

Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency: